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National Trust, Bodysgallen Hall

Bodysgallen Hall, probably meaning ‘house among the thistles’, dates back to 1620. It is one of three country house hotels in the Historic House Hotels group (the others being Hartwell House and Middlethorpe Hall). These had been rescued, repaired and furnished by Robert Broyd since 1980 and were given by him to the National Trust in 2008 in order to ensure their continued preservation.

The Hall has a wonderful irregularly stepped and compartmented garden created by the Arts and Crafts influenced Henrietta Augusta Nevill (1830–1912), Lady Mostyn, and her son Henry Richard Howell Lloyd-Mostyn (1857–1938). It benefits from spectacular views towards Conwy Castle and Snowdonia and is near to the fashionable seaside resort of Llandudno, developed by Edward Mostyn Lloyd-Mostyn (1805–1884), 2nd Baron Mostyn. It was originally built for Robert Wynn, grandson of the classical scholar and collector of Welsh manuscripts, Robert Mostyn, who had previously owned a house on the site. It was probably Wynn who introduced the newel stair from the former Cistercian Aberconwy Abbey at Maeanan, whose anti-clockwise upper steps date from around 1300. It returned to Mostyn ownership, when the heiress Margaret Wynn (d.1792) married Sir Roger Mostyn (d.1796), 5th Bt, and remained in the family until 1967.

Adolphus Robert Venables’s portrait of ‘Louisa Pennant (d.1853), Viscountess Feilding, Aged 18’, a great-granddaughter of the author, naturalist, and travel writer, Thomas Pennant, and Anne Mostyn, is an example of a painting acquired recently for its associations with the house.

This location is open to the public

Llandudno, Conwy, Wales, LL30 1RSIf you are planning a visit to see a particular painting, check with the location first. Paintings can be moved at short notice